


Pyrrhic Victories

by XtaticPearl



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Angst, Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie) Trailer, Gen, Implied/Referenced Character Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-17
Updated: 2018-03-17
Packaged: 2019-04-01 10:05:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 595
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13995954
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/XtaticPearl/pseuds/XtaticPearl
Summary: “Be safe,” he whispered into the void, hoping that wherever Steve was, wherever his team was, they would know, “Win”“I hope they remember you,” Thanos commented and Tony raised his head, fire and iron, burning and scorching into fury.





	Pyrrhic Victories

 

 

They were fighting on the ruins of hope by the time Tony actually came face to face with him. 

When he had heard Gamora and Nebula describe Thanos, he had pictured an alien, with weapons to tear them apart and claws to rip through humanity. 

 _He looks like Obie_ , he thought for a second when the purple figure emerged onto the scene. There was a cruel smirk tempered by detached amusement, like someone watching a distant fiction of carnage. He was a giant, a veritable titan of strength, and Tony knew that his physical strength would only be one half of his arsenal. 

Obie hadn’t used the armor as viciously as he had used his mind. It made sense. 

“I’m a little disappointed,” Thanos said, a sigh of tone, “I almost expected an actual fight. This seems almost too easy.”

“Sorry we’re not much fun,” Tony quipped, flipping through energy readings to formulate any on-the-fly plan.

Thanos brought up his hand, the one encased in the Gauntlet, and curled his fingers slowly.

“Fun isn’t something one considers when balancing the universe,” he commented, shifting his gaze back to Tony with a tilt of his head, “But this… does put a smile on my face.“

Tony prepared to charge when a swinging figure came in and Tony saw Peter try to tackle Thanos. It was never going to be a fair fight but Tony couldn’t pause to think about it. He couldn’t let Peter take it all.

It was brutal and Tony could feel the power of the Titan with every hit, every throw they suffered. When he saw Peter being slammed into the ground, rendered almost unconscious, he threw himself in as bait.

An extremely flimsy bait, going by the way Thanos ripped his suit by bits, relishing every blow.

Broken and bruised, tattered in armor, Tony tried to get back up but his body was failing him.

He slumped on the ground, a few feet away from where Peter lay, alive but unable to fight. Tony needed to fight, he needed to buy the other team some time, he needed - he -

“The end is near,” Thanos informed him, casual in observation, and Tony’s ribs hurt with every breath, “And when I am done, half of humanity will still exist.”

The mercy of a god. The scraps of a conqueror. It was mocking and pitiful, and Tony struggled to think.

“Perfectly balanced,” Thanos continued and Tony knew what his only option would be, preparing for it even as the alien lord mused his thoughts, “Exactly the way it should be.”

 _Let it be worth it_ , he wished, fierce and desperate into the universe, into any part of the cosmos that still connected him to a team that was fighting somewhere across the globe, _let them survive. Let them live._

 _“Be safe,”_ he whispered into the void, hoping that wherever Steve was, wherever his team was, they would know, “ _Win”_

“I hope they remember you,” Thanos commented and Tony raised his head, fire and iron, burning and scorching into fury.

It didn’t matter. It didn’t matter if they remembered him. It only mattered that they avenged him. Their home. Their Earth.

“They will,” he said and charged even as Thanos leapt across to land the fatal blow.

Eons away, Steve Rogers stood ready to continue fighting.

Later Peter would tell Steve about how Tony fought, not the mockery Thanos had goaded the Captain into when they finally met. Peter would tell about how Tony defended.

Steve would never get to tell Tony about how he avenged.


End file.
